In a lengthy, worthwhile read, Rivals looks at the highs and lows of the tumultuous career of Kevin Riley.   Both his savior and his downfall, his confidence has played a key role in his development during his years at Cal.

That confidence would end up haunting Riley years later at Cal, as he languished in the backup role behind Longshore. It was a Longshore injury that led to Riley getting the start in that fateful Oregon State game, but once the incumbent returned, Riley was forced back to the bench. Longshore remained the quarterback for the remainder of the season, much to Riley’s chagrin. He felt he was the better quarterback, and made no secret about his feelings. His trademark confidence was beginning to resemble cockiness. His rival noticed.

Faustin Riley recalls standing behind Longshore and backup quarterback Kyle Reed as they chatted during one practice, oblivious to his presence. As Riley walked by them, Longshore snickered to Reed, "Here’s our star quarterback right here."

"I’m sure Nate thought Kevin was a pain in the ass when he first got (to Cal)," Faustin says. "He was immature. He was brash. He was saying in the paper… that he wanted to be the guy."
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But, as much as they hurt, Riley accepts the boos. Longshore was booed at Memorial Stadium before, too. It’s all part of playing quarterback, he says. You get an unfair amount of the credit when you win, and too much blame when you lose.

Retired NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer-a former Tedford pupil-is certainly familiar with criticism; he may be the most maligned Super Bowl-winning quarterback in NFL history. But Dilfer played in the NFL until 2008, when he retired at age 37. He believes confidence-or something like it-is the most important thing a quarterback can possess. It’s what kept him going in his career, and it’s what will serve Riley well going forward.
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"He could be selfish, and he could be thoughtless, but he’s grown past that," says Faustin. "The world isn’t about Kevin anymore."

After the jump ESPN goes prediction-crazy, Bleacher Report declares Ron Gould the best running backs coach in the land, Matt Summers-Gavin returns to practice, and much more.

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The second CGB college fantasy football league needs one more person to join by Tuesday.  If interested, follow the link here and use the password "Tedford" to join the league [edit: league's full now!].  The second NFL league also needs more people.  Click here and use the password "Berkeley" if you're interested.  The pick 'em league is ongoing, so go here at any time to join.

Tedford has instituted a new way for his team to prepare for its upcoming opponents: use the second team as the scout team.  We'll have to see if this better prepares the team for formidable opponents such as Oregon and USC.

The Bears aren’t going to utilize scout team players as much this season. Instead, coach Jeff Tedford wants to simulate the speed of real games more effectively, so he’s going to have his offense and defense go against the real defense and offense. So the Bears will still be going against the opponent’s schemes, they will just be doing so against presumably better players.

Tedford said the No. 2 defense will serve as the scout team for the No. 1 offense, and the No. 2 offense will do the same for the No. 1 defense. So if the Bears are going up against a good defensive end one week, the offense could see someone like Trevor Guyton on the other side, not a freshman on the scout team. Tedford believes practicing this way will have his players better prepared for games.

In the meantime, younger  players who are redshirting that typically would be on the scout team are instead going to run plays against each other.

Tedford said he is making the change not only to better simulate the speed and tempo of a game, but it’s also another way to put an extra focus on competition at practice.

After the jump Tedford talks about the depth chart, the team takes UC Davis seriously, and the fall sports season officially begins!

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Jonathan Okanes has reported on some difficulty Cal is having getting Gabe King and Dave Wilkerson eligible to practice now that school has started. King is expected to redshirt, but Wilkerson was fighting for a position as starting linebacker, meaning that the football team wants this sorted out as quickly as possible:

Tedford said he hoped the situation wouldn’t drag on much longer and clearly is frustrated by it.

“Anytime something is in someone else’s hands, you always have to be a little concerned about it,” Tedford said. “They have sent it in numerous times. It’s a little bit frustrating when you send things two, three or four times and they come up with new policies once you send it in. They change and come up with something new.

“We were on top of this a long time ago. Compliance is calling three times  a day to figure it out. It can be a little bit frustrating.”

After the jump check out how Tedford found his new defensive coordinator, reports about Kevin Riley and some depth chart decisions.

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Ted Miller at ESPN weighed in on the perception that Stanford has passed Cal as the best program in the Bay Area, but Kevin Riley isn't having it:

California quarterback Kevin Riley knew the question about rival Stanford was coming. He'd surely already read stories about a changing of the guard in the Bay Area. He probably was aware that more than a few columnists and fans had questioned whether his coach, Jeff Tedford, was capable of prodding the Bears into taking the next step from merely good to elite.

Changing of the guard? My tookus, said Riley.

"It's disrespect," said Riley with just a hint of edge in his voice. "We beat them last year, and our offense whupped up their defense pretty good. We beat them last year when they were at their highest point of their game."

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The Oakland Tribune has an article up on the recent injury to defensive lineman Derrick Hill:

Already bypassed by sophomore Kendrick Payne in the spring, senior nose tackle Derrick Hill needed this training camp to make a case to earn back his starting job.

But just like so many other times during his Cal career, an injury has set him back.

Hill has missed the past week with a case of gout. Originally, Cal's training staff figured it was his balky knee acting up again. But when Hill's foot began to swell on Friday, it was determined he had gout.

Gout?  What is gout?

Gout (also known as podagra when it involves the big toe^[1]) is a medical condition usually characterized by recurrent attacks of acute inflammatory arthritis—a red, tender, hot, swollen joint.

It is caused by elevated levels of uric acid in the blood which crystallize and are deposited in joints, tendons, and surrounding tissues.

So, I'm not a doctor (although I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express several nights ago), but it appears that a previous injury to his knee has reared its ugly head with elevated levels of a type of acid in the blood, which is causing swelling in his knee joint.  This sounds painful!  The article goes on to talk about how Hill thought of going out for the draft last year and was hoping to raise his draft stock this season.  This news (and the news that he is getting pushed by several players, such as Kendrick Payne and Aaron Tipoti, for playing time) cannot be good for Hill. 

After the jump, let's take a closer look at the stories of this weekend, including the ability to now watch the USC-Cal 2003 classic game on Hulu!  GO BEARS!

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After picking up Boise St earlier this summer, the Mountain West Conference has taken two more of the top programs from the WAC--Fresno State and Nevada.  While it looks like the WAC will fade away, is the MWC on the verge of becoming a BCS conference?  One uncertainty in the conference's future is BYU, whose football program is exploring the option of becoming independent.

"We're simply looking at getting better, and we got better tonight with Fresno State and Nevada joining our league," Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson said in a conference call Wednesday night.

Thompson spoke after returning from a meeting in Philadelphia with Comcast and CBS officials, who said they wanted the league and its television network -- The Mtn. -- to reach more markets. The league started the network a few years ago, giving up national exposure on ESPN for more scheduling freedom.

"[Expansion] just made lot of sense at this particular juncture. We got better and we helped our TV position," he said.

The MWC also helped its bargaining position with BYU, which is reportedly mulling going independent in football and joining the WAC in all other sports. The Cougars have not confirmed anything and might need another look before making anything official. At this rate, there might not be much of a WAC left to join.

After the jump Shane Vereen catches the attention of the Hornung Award, the Memorial Stadium renovations relieve overcrowding in the West concourse, and the depth chart becomes clearer after days 11 and 12 of fall camp.

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The latest rankings came out and Cal is ranked 22nd...according to the US News and World Report.  Stanford beat us, of course, and finished tied for 5th.  UCLA fans can't be happy that USC was just ahead of them, at 25th and 23rd, respectively.  No other Pac-10 schools are in the top-25.  Washington is 41st, our new comrades at Colorado are 86th, Oregon and Washington State are 111th, Arizona is 120th, Pac-12 newcomer Utah is 129th, Oregon State is 139th, and Arizona State is 143rd.

Daily Cal recently interviewed Leon Powe and asked him about preparing for the upcoming season (without LeBron), his time at Cal, and returning to home to the Bay Area.

JW: You mentioned that you still follow Cal basketball. Did you get to watch the game against Arizona State where they clinched the Pac-10 championship?

LP: I've seen the confetti and stuff after. I forgot where I was; I was playing a game somewhere, but I caught the end of it. It was a big moment for Cal and a big moment for that team. Everybody was going crazy. Everybody was jumping up and down, having fun, and that's the way it's supposed to be.

JW: Do you ever think about what it would've been like to play under Mike Montgomery instead of Ben Braun?

LP: Well, I never thought Mike Montgomery would end up at Cal. He's a Stanford guy and you know how I feel about Stanford people and how Cal nation feels about Stanford people. But I gave him a pass, talked to him when he first got here and he seems like a pretty good guy.

JW: Any advice for Patrick Christopher and Jerome Randle on making it to the NBA?

LP: My advice would be just stick with it. No matter what happens, no matter what you go through, just stick with it. Keep believing in your dream, keep working hard, and eventually success will come to you.

After the jump JO interviews Riley, Stevens, Schwartz, and Sofele, two more players earn spots on preseason watch lists, and various journalists fill us in on days 9 and 10 of fall camp.

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With help from an improved O-line and a talented young corp of receivers, Riley expects an improved passing game this season.  The most substantial improvement should come from Riley, who has been working extensively on improving his game.

"It's going to be the best season I've ever played," Riley said. "It's gonna be unbelievable ... I'm gonna make the best of it, that's for damn sure."

With a work ethic that drawn praise from teammates, the Portland, Ore. native is honing every element of his game in order to overcome last year's inconsistency.

Riley is paying particular attention to his pocket presence this off-season. He has learned from the best -- studying tape of Peyton Manning and Drew Brees -- and from himself.

"I looked at sacks last year, see if there was anything I could do to fix those and limit the sacks," Riley said. "There's a few where I step up in the pocket, which was a good thing at first, but I keep on stepping up into an O-lineman and that created pressure."

"(I've) worked a lot on my strength too. I lifted, really for the first time, hard in my life and I think that's going to make a difference as well."

After the jump Cameron Jordan looks forward to his final year, Sofele and Williams stand out in their roles, Wilner complains about the media-free practice policy, and the press gives us updates on practices seven, eight, and nine.

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